THRUSH COUSINS 



Between the wrens and thrushes come four small 

 groups of birds, about which we must say just a few 

 words. One is the creeper family, of which we have 

 but one species in America, our Brown Creeper, that 

 slender little brownish fellow with a rather long bill 

 and stiff spiked tail which we see in the colder months 

 running up the trunks of trees, uttering faint lisping 

 sounds as it does so. It is a timid little creature and 

 is pretty hard to locate, even when we are hearing its 

 deceptive notes. It usually nests well to the north, 

 but sometimes as far south as southern New England, 

 and builds behind a loose, rotten sheath of bark on a 

 decaying tree. 



Next are the nuthatches, two of which we have — 

 White-breasted and Red-breasted Nuthatches. Their 

 name was earned by skill in cracking nuts. They are 

 the funny little blue-gray fellows that climb about on 

 the trees saying, "ank, ank," hanging or feeding head 

 down as easily as any other way. The smaller Red- 

 breast we have mostly as a migrant to and from the 

 North, but now and then it stays in winter. The White- 

 breast we have resident with us the year round. In 

 winter it becomes very familiar and accepts our hospi- 

 tality of nuts, crumbs, or suet. It is not a bit afraid 

 of the camera, and many a person, myself for one, have 

 photographed it by focusing the camera upon the 

 "lunch counter" and pulling the thread when the bird 

 seems to be posing just right. Some use a pneumatic 

 tube and bulb, but this device cracks and leaks air or 



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